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99 AND COUNTING!! Santa Anita’s beloved Paddock Captain John Shear celebrates his 99th birthday in the track’s Runhappy Winner’s Circle following Friday’s third race. When asked what his secret to a long, vibrant life is, he quipped, “Chasing all those young chicks!” Employed at Santa Anita since 1961, Shear was joined by his wife Dianne, son Michael and a large group of family, friends and jockeys.

Pandemonium was narrowly avoided at the High Court on Monday when Police ranks rushed in to settle tensions when co-accused John Caesar almost prevented a jury empanelment before Justice Sandil Kissoon. He is charged along with Marisco George for the July 4, 2009 attempted murder of Dhanmattie Phulchand, who was severely chopped to the head in what was believed to be a robbery at her Reshma’s Collection Store in the City Mall, Georgetown.According to State Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs, the duo assaulted the woman before or after they robbed her store on the day in question. The duo however denied the charges. Upon Caesar’s arraignment, he openly accused State Counsel Mandell Moore of offering him a plea deal moments before the trial commenced.However, both prosecutors denied any such involvement. Moore immediately addressed the court, including all potential jurors and rejected the assertion the accused made. Justice Kissoon then restored order but not before Caesar shouted “Freedom” several times, adding that the Judge should listen to what he was saying.The Judge was having none of it and proceeded to empanel the 12 member-jury which comprise only males after Marisco George’s Attorney, Damien DaSilva requested changes. Caesar earlier had no representation but Attorney Brandon De Santos accepted the case prompting Caesar to say he was sent an angel.Justice Kissoon admonished the jurors to disregard all of what transpired during Monday’s proceedings, telling them to focus on the evidence presented in the four walls of the court room. The matter was adjourned for Wednesday.read more

Los Angeles County’s residential real estate market packed enough power in February to push Southern California’s median price to a record even though sales fell to a 10-year low, an industry tracker said Wednesday. Last month’s median price increased 5.3 percent to $495,000 across the six county region, breaking the prior record of $490,000 set last June and matched in December, said La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems. That was the biggest annual increase since a 5.9 percent gain last July. However, sales of new and previously owned houses and condominiums sank an annual 19.8 percent to 7,680 transactions, the smallest February total since 1997. But the Los Angeles County median jumped 7.8 percent to a record $528,000 and sales fell 11.1 percent. greg.wilcox@dailynews.com (818) 713-3743160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! “L.A. is a giant market that was late to the housing boom and it’s still playing out where others have spent whatever energy they had,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage. He still thinks appreciation in Los Angeles will continue to shrink. The company also said that signs of market distress remain at moderate levels. Financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is declining and foreclosure activity is rising but is still in the normal range. “It’s a very strange market,” said Jack Kyser, vice president and chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit business research and retention group. “Some areas are seeing year-over-year price increases.” read more

AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MOREWalnut’s Malik Khouzam voted Southern California Boys Athlete of the Week “My son hits harder than she does,” chided Lazier, whose son Kayden is 4. Lazier, a resident of Rancho Cucamonga, didn’t offer any more details and said he’s going to let IRL officials handle it. “There are two sides to every story,” IRL spokesman John Griffin said. “We will investigate.” The other side denies anything actually took place. “I didn’t do that,” said Patrick, who was ninth at the time of the accident. “No. No. I yelled at him. I definitely yelled at him, but I didn’t punch him. Danica Patrick didn’t hold back words, or apparently one of her fists, after she got tangled up with Jaques Lazier late in Sunday’s Toyota Indy 400 at the California Speedway. “The first person I saw after the accident was Jaques and that wasn’t a good thing,” said Patrick, who blamed Lazier for the Turn 2 mishap that knocked both from the race with 15 laps remaining. “I confronted him. I told him how I felt. I was mad at him.” But sometime during the ride to the infield care center in the back of an IRL safety team vehicle, Patrick evidently took it up a notch. The Press-Telegram learned the 23-year-old IRL rookie sensation struck Lazier in the face. The driver of the SUV had to stop briefly to tend to the situation, which reverted to verbal sparring as they circled track. “He’s going to actually say he got beat up by a girl?” Patrick, however, did beat Lazier up verbally at the postrace news conference. “Lazier was a problem all day. He’s been a problem for years,” Patrick said. She then went after the Chip Ganassi, the owner of Lazier’s car who criticized Patrick during the television broadcast. “Yeah, OK. I think they’ve crashed every race,” she said. Lazier didn’t show any physical signs of the altercation as he stood outside his team’s hauler, where he met up with his family. “It’s hugely misplaced at this level of racing to have an attitude like that,” Lazier said. “The only thing I can say is she’s thinks showtime. She’s been on (David) Letterman and all that other stuff. I guess she thinks she’s bigger than the whole rest of the series.” Patrick has raced under huge expectations since leading at the Indy 500 en route to a fourth-place showing in May, the highest finish by a woman in race history. 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set!read more

19 November 2015The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign starts on 25 November and runs until 10 December, and will once again highlight violence against women and children.As usual, South Africa will be at the forefront of efforts to address and eradicate the problems of gender violence with a variety of events, government legislation and awareness drives to take the issues to a wider audience.The Global 16 Days of ActivismThe 16 Days global campaign started in 1991, during the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute held by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. (Image: Infographic by the World Health Organization)Participants at the institute established the campaign, which includes International Women Human Rights Defenders Day on 29 November and World Aids Day on 1 December. The institute choose to symbolically link International Day Against Violence Against Women on 25 November and International Human Rights Day on 10 December in the campaign.International Day Against Violence Against Women was first declared in 1981 by the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean to commemorate the violent assassination of the Mirabal sisters on that date in 1960 by the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.Violence against women and children takes many forms:Physical violence: domestic violence, violent crime such as murder, robbery, rape and assault;Emotional violence, trauma, sexism and discrimination in homes, at work, at schools, on our streets, in communities; and,Violence of poverty, starvation, humiliation and degradation against women and children. (Image: Infographic by the World Health Organization)The commemoration is a way to symbolically link violence of all kinds against women and children, to the violation of human rights. The campaign is an organising strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by, among others:Raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at local, national, regional and international levels;Strengthening local work around violence against women;Establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women;Providing a forum in which organisers can develop and share new and effective strategies;Demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world in organising against violence against women; and,Creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women. (Image: Infographic by the World Health Organization) (Image: Infographic by the World Health Organization)#16Days in South AfricaIn South Africa, Day of Reconciliation on 16 December follows a few days after the campaign. It is a further effort to foster reconciliation and national unity. The white ribbon commemorates 16 Days of Activism and symbolises peace and commitment to non-violence. (Image: Department of Women)South Africa adopted the campaign in 1998 as one of the intervention strategies towards creating a society free of violence. The campaign continues to raise awareness among South Africans about the negative impact of violence against women and children on all members of the community.Objectives of the 2015 #16Days campaign:Attract all South Africans to be active participants in the fight to eradicate violence against women and children.Expand accountability beyond the justice, crime prevention and security cluster to include all government clusters and provinces.Combine technology, social media, the arts, journalism, religion, culture and customs, business and activism to draw attention to the many ways violence against women and children affects the lives of all people in all communities around the world.Ensure mass mobilisation of all communities to promote collective responsibility in the fight to eradicate violence against women and children.Encourage society to acknowledge that violence against women and children is not only a government or criminal justice system problem, but a societal problem, and that failure to view it as such results in all efforts failing to eradicate this scourge in our communities.You and #16Days: what you can doSupport the campaign by wearing a white ribbon during the 16 days. The white ribbon is a symbol of peace and the commitment of the wearer to never commit or condone violence against women and children.Participate in the various 16 Days of Activism events and activities. For a full list of national events, click here.Volunteer in support of NGOs, organisations and community groups that support abused women and children. You can volunteer your time and make a contribution to the work of institutions. Help plant a garden at a shelter, sponsor plastic tables and chairs for children at a clinic or join an organisation as a counsellor. Use your skills and knowledge to help victims of abuse. Click here for a list of organisations in South Africa.You can also:Speak out against woman and child abuse.Encourage silent female victims to talk about abuse and ensure that they get help.Report child abuse to the police.Encourage children to report bullying behaviour to school authorities.Men and boys are encouraged to talk about abuse and actively discourage abusive behaviour.Seek help if you are emotionally, physically or sexually abusive to your partner and/or children. Call the Stop Gender Based Violence helpline on 0800 150 150.Talk to friends, relatives and colleagues to take a stand against abuse of women and children.Try to understand how your own attitudes and actions might perpetuate sexism and violence.Spread the message on social media using the white ribbon symbol and hashtag #16Days.What the government is doingThe Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill gives the government the legislative authority to fast-track the empowerment of women and address issues of enforcement and compliance towards the attainment of the country’s target of 50/50 gender parity.On 6 June 2011, the government launched the Strategy and Guidelines on Children Working and Living in the Streets. This strategy provides guidance on the services and programmes to be rendered to children living and working on the streets.The Green Paper on Families seeks to strengthen and support families as the cornerstone of a well-functioning society.Since 1994, the government has developed several pieces of legislation to redress the wrongs affecting women and children.The Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act fights the trafficking of people, as well as the practice of ukuthwala, a form of abduction that involves a man and his friends and peers kidnapping a girl or a young woman with the intention of compelling the woman’s family to agree to marriage.For a full list of events being held and legislation by the government during #16Days, click here.By South Africa.info reporterread more

A Web Developer’s New Best Friend is the AI Wai… Tags:#news#NYT#web Why Tech Companies Need Simpler Terms of Servic… Related Posts The US Federal Government has plans to offer both Software as a Service for government agencies and a cloud-based platform for agencies to develop, test and deploy new applications. Those programs could be announced at the Gov 2.0 Summit in September, according to a report this morning from Federal News Radio.SaaS offerings made available will be government-approved services like email, productivity apps, document management and business process management software. Those services are intended for use by other government agencies. Even more exciting may be the application platform that’s part of the plan. The initiative is reportedly based at the Office of Management and Budget.The prospect of government agencies using a government cloud platform to build and deploy web based applications like the private sector has used services like Amazon’s cloud computing is exciting. By lowering overhead and easing application management, a government cloud could yield a wave of application innovation across agencies. That’s the theory at least.If government is to become the next hot application development sector, it will have to compete with a private tech sector that’s already deep into this paradigm and offers developers the possibility of turning cheap web apps into huge riches through acquisition by larger firms.Also worth watching will be any integration between the government’s new cloud platform, data created by the apps deployed on it and the federal site data.gov, where an ostensible cross-section of public data is cataloged for subsequent use as development fodder. Creation of a mutually beneficial development ecosystem seems ambitious and promising, but could be far-fetched. Apps on a cloud, contributing data to the data storehouse, so that other developers could pull that data back onto the platform to create new apps and feed new data back into data.gov listings? Sounds too good to be true.For a more in-depth look at the government’s cloud agenda, see today’s write-up by Jason Miller at Federal News Radio. Top Reasons to Go With Managed WordPress Hosting marshall kirkpatrick 8 Best WordPress Hosting Solutions on the Marketread more

A helicopter carrying Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and three others, including senior IAS officer Pravin Pardeshi in the Chief Minister’s Office, collapsed while landing immediately after takeoff at Nilanga in Latur district. No one was injured in the incident.Mr. Fadnavis was in Latur to participate in the BJP’s ‘Shivar Samwad Sabha’ (farm communication rallies). He was travelling back to Mumbai.Mr. Fadnavis said on Twitter, “Our helicopter did meet with an accident in Latur but me and my team is absolutely safe and ok. Nothing to worry.”A Maharashtra government Sikorsky helicopter VT-CMM took off from Nilanda SE of Latur at 1200 hrs with six persons on board, including Mr. Fadnavis. After the takeoff, the pilot decided to land back as he found a variable wind pattern. During the landing, the helicopter got entangled in wires and fell down. All on board were safe, said a statement from the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation).read more

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has agreed to relax several conditions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) to carry out drought relief measures in Maharashtra six days after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote to them.The poll panel has said it has no objection to relax the norms in view of the public interest involved. The ECI has put only one condition that the staff involved in counting shall not accompany “the ministers on any tour during this period”, A.N. Das, secretary, ECI wrote in a letter on May 5.“As the polling in the entire state of Maharashtra is over, [the election] commission has no objection to the proposal received from honourable Chief Minister, Maharashtra,” Mr. Das said in his response. Mr. Fadnavis had written to the ECI seeking relaxation in MCC to carry out drought relief measures in the State last week. Prior to this, the government had declared 151 talukas as drought affected, and had sought an assistance of ₹4,714 crore from the Centre in this regard. The CM had demanded relief in works related to calling for tenders, evaluation of tenders, finalisation of bids, entering into contracts, and grounding the works as per the annual works plan of the departments. Other works cited were hospital infrastructure works, road works, municipal and panchayat works.The letter from Mr. Fadnavis had also mentioned relaxation provided should be only for those officers who are not on election duty. The tour of ministers in the State had been asked to be allowed for.read more

Manisha Malhotra, CEO, Mittal Champions TrustEach athlete has a story and each story has its own fair share of twists, turns, sorrows and joys. But few match the story of wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who was actually a favorite going into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but came up short.Yogeshway then blew out his knee during a trial a month after the Games and after that it was all downhill. He didn’t know how to proceed. All the doctors he met told him his career was over and that it was doubtful if he could ever walk without a limp, let alone wrestle.That is the difference between champions and the rest, they don’t let anything come in the way of their dreams. He urged MCT to fix him — we acquiesced.We sent him to South Africa for a complete knee reconstruction and then he put in a good 10 months of rehab. His aim was simple: he couldn’t wrestle but he wanted his new knee to be much stronger than the old one. For that he had to strengthen his whole body and spend close to 6 hours a day in the gym. The gym’s regular members couldn’t believe that someone could have such dedication and he soon became the strongest guy at the gym.The eventual aim was an olympic medal and he knew that as each day passed he was losing out on wrestling. He didn’t want the world to pass him by and had to make up for a lot of lost time. We knew we had to somehow put him around champions so that he could spar with the best and get back into shape, and the answer was the Russian training center in Vladikavkaz — a wrestling mecca nestled within the mountains that have produced some of the world’s best wrestlers.advertisementYogeshwar lived there trained with the best in the world and slowly got his form back. He was stronger than he ever was and so his comeback was faster than expected. After that he started his long road back into the competitive scene, a gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 was great, but it came at the cost of his spine being strained. So it was back to the drawing board and after a tailor made program for injury prevention he started to find form last year.The world championships were lost due to the lack of competition but since the Asian Championships he began to find form and then it was all about peaking at the Olympics. He was unlucky not to get gold but it is only through sheer grit, determination and heart he managed to get to the top.Yogeshwar was the only wrestler in London not to get a bye, he had the toughest draw being in the same quarter as the world championhip gold and silver medalist and fought his way through it all.If there is anything to learn from Yogeshwar’s story it’s that the only thing that wins Olympic medals is desire and then the sky is the limit.read more